Start your free trial at Brilliant!: brilliant.org/AndrewDotson/ Today I talk about a few mistakes I've had to (re)-learn from during my PhD in Theoretical Nuclear Physics so far.
I started following you five years ago when I first entered undergrad and am now a year from finishing my master's. Thanks for the video, these are some lessons I think I needed right now.
Hey Andrew, I'd love to hear your thoughts about theory vs experimental. I'm a undergraduate right now rhats got a fair bit of experimental experience, but obviously no theory experience, and I'd be curious how you chose.
I, too, started following you a handful of years ago. Great to see where you’re at. I’m ~4 years into the PhD as well. Depending on the type of research being done, another thing that could be a “lessons learned” would be keep keeping a detailed standardized log of what parameters have been changed and how that impacted results. Making a mistake 1/2 way through something is much more forgivable when you can you go back and point it out exactly, roll back, and continue quickly and easily rather than restarting (like version controlling research).
@@derblaue good point! However, if a mistake was easily avoidable - and you fixed it before you made the mistake…then you didn’t make a mistake. No? No real lesson learned 🤷♀️
My largest mistake academically was not giving myself time to breathe. 9 years ago I limped past the finish line of my 5 years in undergrad. I was super keen and ended up with a triple major in applied mathematics, physics, and computer science. I also had a total breakdown at the end which necessitated a stay in a mental health ward, therapy, and medication. Over that 5 year stretch I never once took a break. Every summer I was doing one or two courses, plus maybe some research. I burned out hard. The story has a happy ending however. I moved across the country to put some distance between myself and things that reminded me of my burnout. Landed a job as a programmer. And now I work as a senior SE in the AAA video game space (mostly engine programming). But as I close in on a decade away from physics I find myself wistfully wondering what could have been, and am considering trying to make a return to the field as crazy as that sounds. It never stopped being my first and true passion. I've been looking into the GRE which is what led me to this video. Anyways, to all you undergrads watching, be sure to treat yourself kindly. Don't burn out like I did.
As someone in a dynamic system simulation lab, TONS of labs would love to have someone with experience with game engines. Even just high level programming knowledge is coveted. Dont let the time you've spent away from school deter you. People often go from one undergrad major to another graduate major, so nobody is gonna hold it against you if you're a bit rusty on partial differential equations. I'm in electrical engineering from Physics, and I know nothing about circuits and I'm just picking up signal processing and control now "after the fact".
Man space engine is awesome... I am so blown away how it just works, considering the billions of galactic and interstellar bodies it contains. It’s insane!
I am in a similar situation to yours and, even if I miss physics, I still find my current job in computer programming way more pleasant and satisfying than the situation I was in. Will I be willing to go back to academia? Maybe to teach a more programming based topic, but definitely not research.
Adam, that's an incredible story man! I'm glad you're doing well and even working as a programmer atm. I bit off more than I could chew as an undergrad, but wasn't quite that ambitious (3 majors!?). I did nearly have a complete breakdown though during the summer I graduated before I was supposed to start a PhD program. I started out having no idea what to do in life and enrolled in pre-pharmacy schooling...only they made me major in something so I majored in chemistry, had to take physics classes, and a lot of math classes. Instead, chemistry became the drag, physics became my new love, and math was the where I felt in my element, so I switched after the first year to double major in math/physics and minor in chemistry/nanoscience. I also made the mistake of placing too much emphasis on my grades. That put unsustainable extra pressure on me that was totally unnecessary once I really understood the weight of it in grad school. I mean, yeah it's important enough to get good enough grades for the grad program you want, but independent learning, relaxation time, social time, physical activity...all of those things need to be balanced with it. In the end I made it through everything okay and was enrolled in a physics PhD program, but dropped out before I ever showed up and moved into my car for 4 months. Things became pretty bleak, but gradually I was able to find myself again and went straight back to it. Only this time I enrolled in a more modest Masters program in Applied Mathematics, which required me to take the extra math GRE after I had completed a physics one half a year earlier, but it was good. It gave me a goal and something meaningful to work on at the time. Gradually I figured out a sense of routine and balance that I always lacked in life before and that allowed me to advance to a PhD program and postdoc fellowship before eventually securing a career I like. I just wanted to say to you, if it bothers you to this day that you didn't explore your intellectual potential further and still feel that insatiable curiosity science is known for attracting, then I think you should take the leap in your life you need and try at it again. You've obviously got the ability. It's not too late.
@@bjornragnarsson8692 Thanks for sharing your story as well. I'm glad you got a career you like in the end. I also loved my math classes. I was actually the president of the undergrad math society and used to hang out with the math crowd more than the physics people in undergrad. Although I always considered myself a physics major I liked the rigor of mathematics. I'm currently on vacation, my first in years so I guess I haven't learned that much since my undergrad days haha. But when I get home I want to start prepping for the physics GRE because as you said it gives me something concrete to work towards.
One mistake I made throughout undergrad (in research at least) that I managed to fix right as I started my PhD was to not erase mistakes in my notes. I write copious notes on what I do (always dated), but before if I thought a past result was wrong, I’d go back and rewrite the note/plot/equation. But then, perhaps way later, I’d realize the original thing was the right thing, and now it’s gone. Instead I now just make a note like “Update: this part is wrong; jump to the entry on…” and write out the fixed one. Can’t tell you how much heartache and wasted time I’ve saved from doing this.
I did some work in quantum computing with a lab at a state college this past year, my last year of high school, and I can definitively say my confidence in my ability to do anything dropped immensely. It's nice to see someone like yourself, who I look up to as an inspiration, talking about their struggles as well.
Some advice I would like to pass on is that a PhD really does represent the marathon not the sprint. That phrase does get thrown around a lot, but it really does apply for a PhD, or more accurately, research. There will be times in a PhD where there seems to be little to no outlook, and your supervisor can seem as lost as you are. And to some extent that will be true. However, it's important not to put too much weight on those moments of difficulty, because eventually you'll find your way and you'll shine light on something previously unexplored. Conversely there will be very good times where you make a lot of progress very fast, and it's good to appreciate the moment when it comes along. At the end of the day though, a PhD doesn't get awarded over any of those individual moments, nor any individual result. They're awarded after multiple years of effort and dedication, and it's the average which is assessed, so when things are difficult, work your way out safe in the knowledge that your work will be rewarded in one way or another, and your effort isn't for naught.
In my masters thesis in theoretical quantum chemistry (way back in the 1980s!) I ended up learning a lot of “bits“ of quantum theory, usually just the bits I needed, and it is ONLY after I retired from being the equivalent of a high school teacher of mathematics that I sat down and started systematically studying quantum theory.
Definitely had to learn how to communicate better. I just finished my first year of working on my PhD, and I spent the first 6 months or so thinking I could figure stuff out completely on my own if I had the time, focus and isolation. This led to me going down rabbit holes of information that wasn't entirely relevant to my research and getting burnt out from working alone in my office. Eventually this all culminated in me almost quitting the program at the end of my second semester and breaking down in front of my advisor when he asked me to do something stupid simple (it was making a diagram for a presentation he was making). I can't stress enough how regular communication with your advisor about what you're doing, what you're struggling with and having a clear direction on what you should be focusing your energy on really helps trim the fat and make the experience much more fun. After spending some weeks reorganizing myself and branching out to other grad students, I went from working 60-70 hour weeks, I've been spending the summer doing more like 40 hour weeks and have gotten a lot more progress done on my project, while also having a blast doing it. Also wish I knew how many powerpoints I'd be making, I swear there's at least one every day :)
This is such a great video to see, as I’m starting my own PhD next month! Your documentation of the physics education process has been so immensely helpful to me, especially all of your educational videos (which I’ve binged countless times through undergrad lol). Thank you for everything you do, and good luck in your research!
To address the end of the vid. The two biggest mistakes that can cost, Making a false assumption that what you are trying to learn is beyond your capability, {If you have any brain plasticity at all, this is "always a not" condition}. Making the mistake that you already know something about what you are trying to learn. I believe this is the main causative to many cognitive dissonance moments in the learning process itself, and why the practice of learning as many different learning strategies as possible, {Variant methodology applied to singular tasks} is so important. It also helps develop and maintain that ever so important brain plasticity required for learning.
Thank you for making videos on your PhD! especially sharing the "not so great stuff" yk we learn from our mistakes! they'll help me a lot when I start my PhD....in like 4 years lol
I could really relate to what you said about PhD life in this video. Feeling lost after completing the 1st year in my own PhD journey, this has helped remind me that learning takes time, experience, and making LOTS of mistakes. Keep up the awesome work, we're all rooting for you! 😊
As someone who's about to go into a physics PhD, the timing of this video could not be better. Thank you so much for all the content you've put out over the years, and continue to produce. You are a real inspiration to physicists everywhere.
Hi Andrew! Excellent video! I'm just starting to work in an undergrad project about 1D fluid simulation and it's the first time I'm left to my own devices to make some calculations and recheck them, just like you mentioned. So it is super helpful to me hearing about this research experiences from a grad student, the things to look out for and the mindsets to have while researching. I always think about and appreciate the fact that not only you go through the big task that is pursuing a career in physics academia, but take the time and effort to share that experience with the internet so other people can SEE you and SEE what it's like to do research. From a fellow future researcher, I extend my most sincere thanks to you for sharing your experiences with us.
This is super helpful. I’m entering year 3 of my PhD in chemical engineering and I have made a handful of kinda dumb mistakes that I was embarrassed/upset about, a lot of the time either due to holes in my knowledge or rushing because I was excited, but also sometimes because I was just tired and made a careless mistake. Of course I have been working on being more thorough as I wise up but it is a comfort to hear that others have made similar mistakes. Makes me feel less stupid lol.
This definitely helps. I’m starting my PhD. in Physics (Astrophysics research) this fall and this vid along with this channel is an overall help when it comes to Grad. Level Physics. Thank you Andrew 🤙🏾
Thanks for sharing these! I’ve suffered from something similar in the opposite direction where I miss assignments and classes entirely from either procrastination or dread and then am too ashamed to show my face and ask for help.
I'm actually starting my PhD in Physics this coming Fall, so this was very helpful to hear from someone that's been in a program for a while! Thank you Andrew
I am finishing up my PhD and have some additional remarks I want to give graduate students. TL;DR 1. schedule regular meetings but don't make them too frequent. 2. Always be reading. 3. LaTeX your results once you think something works to find mistakes. 1. You should schedule regular meetings with your supervisor to make sure everything is on track and to get an alternative perspective on the problem. Your supervisor has been doing research for a much longer time than you have and has some intuition about what methods might work. On the other hand, don't make your meetings so frequent that you don't have enough time to do research on your own. Otherwise, you will feel like you need to constantly make progress and have something to show every meeting without spending the time that is needed. For me, 1 week feels too quick and 2 weeks felt ideal, depending if you feel stuck/lost. 2. Always be reading! If you are in a theoretical program, you need to set some time for yourself to be reading. The stuff you learn in courses is not enough because professors teach broad (useful) material but the problems that you are trying to solve are much more specific. Also, some courses aren't very rigorous and gloss over or omit very important assumptions/conditions for the theory to even hold, e.g., People think that the Law of large numbers works on anything but it fails if the samples are from the Cauchy distribution. You need to spend time building your knowledge base so that you can have better intuition and be better at noticing patterns in problems. It is difficult to solve problems if you don't even understand the basics, the nuances, the assumptions, and the conditions. 3. When you finally got something working on paper, LaTeX it immediately and type out ALL the steps, even "simple" steps, e.g., sometimes you just forget how to do basic addition or the sign flips. It is a really good way to find mistakes you have made and also highlight assumptions you are implicitly making. I don't think there was a single time my rough notes didn't have a mistake. I always found them later when I LaTeX the results.
@@TaeNyFan There is no set number of hours a day you need to be reading, it is more of a feeling that you are lacking knowledge. I know some PhD candidates that feel presured to get new results all the time, but don't feel like they have enough understanding to do so. There is not always a single way to solve a problem, so spending time learning what has been done in the literature, as well as problems that are similar in different fields, can help inspire you to use an approach/method to solve the problem. Additional, you will get an idea of the limitations of what can be done and what areas need to be improved/extended to help you with your problem. For example, if you have problem X and notice that you can write it as problem Y, that is well studied, then you might gain a lot of results that can help you solve your problem. Without reading you might never think of turning problem X into Y to make the problem easier. For my research, I looked at results from optimization, machine learning, vational inequalities, monotone operators, graph theory, game theory, control theory, physics (dynamical systems), and multiagent systems. Each approach gives you a different perspective and tools for solving the problem.
Thanks for your videos Andrew! Loved watching your videos during my undergrad as a Biophysics major. Starting year 1 of my PhD in One Health (working in a neurology lab). I love your point about treating learning as a job, I would skip chapters on books just because it looked like my homework. Then I came across the Shankar Quantum book. That course helped me realize I have to commit to learning instead of getting by. Love the video and keep up the work!
As I'm entering grad school myself (in theoretical Computer Science) it's really helpful to listen to your experiences and advices. Keep doing a great job :)
I am starting grad school next month in medical physics and I've already started making some these mistakes you rightly pointed out. Moving forward, I'll be more careful not to make the same mistake. Thanks for making this. Appreciate the honesty.
Andrew, you’re so inspiring. There’s so much advice that a lot of us would have to learn by ourselves (maybe even never learn) - not just in this video but throughout your entire journey. I’m about to start college and very likely wouldn’t be thinking about doing a physics major without your videos. Thank you.
Watching your videos lately brings me a bittersweet feeling. I started watching your channel senior year of high school when I was eager to learn more about physics and even more eager to begin physics undergrad. I had a very rough second year as a result of a number of factors (online classes and course overload being the two biggest) and I ended up being set back a whole year effectively. I've kind of fallen out of love with physics insofar as I don't really want to go to grad school anymore nor do I wish to seek out an industry job after graduation. I'm heading into my senior year now and even though I'm looking forward to the classes I'm going to take I'm kind of sad that this might be the end of my physics journey. All that aside, it's been awesome seeing you both succeed and struggle on the road to your PhD. Your determination and attitude are truly inspirational.
Starting my Physics PhD at UPenn this month… thank you for all the advice going into it. I Already know I’ll be coming back to this video down the road!
I started watching your channel about two years after I got my PhD. It's been fun watching you suffer/learn like I had to. I think one more lesson I would have included is to realize at some point YOURE the expert. I had my adviser wave me off of a solution I thought would work because "It's just not done" and then eventually I did it my way and it worked. I listened to him at first because he's the big dog, but eventually I realized he's not in the lab, I am, and if I think it'll work I should try it. A big part of the PhD is getting to the point where you have the best vantage point on your problem, not advisers and experts. There is a confidence you need to have at that point to say "I hear what you're saying, but no, I think it's this way" That's what they're training you to be. You're almost there, keep at it.
Hey Andrew, keep up the good work! I’ve always been a lurker, but I’ve decided to say something today. Funnily enough, I’ve done some research pertaining to the proton pressure/shear using the D-term of the GFFs. I’m still in my early years of my PhD, but I’ve always been encouraged by your videos. Cheers!
Hey Andrew, I've just finished the first year of a physics and mathematics degree, and just wanted to say that your videos are a very big factor in swaying me towards theoretical research. I was always going to take physics at uni, but seeing how you've progressed has made me really interested in conducting research of my own. Your videos on the whiteboard going through derivations and such are some of the clearest and most easily understandable I've seen. Cant wait to master vector calc so I can make a proper start on your tensor calc series. Thanks for the enthusiasm and honesty in these videos, love it
This was really good. Very much relate to thinking I’m almost there for a long, long time, and then spending way too long on the thing and even burning out.
Hey Andrew. Great to see you come up with these really honest videos of the dark side of being a research student. It really helps a lot. To know there are people who are sharing similar plight across the globe, makes us feel a little less lonely. THANKS AND KEEP UP.
I've been following you for quite a time I'm currently in the final year of my undergrad (physics major) ....thanks for sharing your experience ✨️ and all the best.
Thank you for putting yourself out there like this, as much as it may seem not so worth it sometimes, I can tell you, that I certainly benefitted from this video
It's always reassuring to hear lessons from talented and hardworking people like yourself Andrew!! I'm actually working on my undergrad research thesis as I type this. My project is pretty heavy in geochemical data analysis which means I've had to become far more proficient in specialized softwares specific to my field then I could've ever dreamed of. I started the project off with very poor fluency in Excel and other computer systems generally speaking and I've made so many mistakes and had to experience a huge learning curve. But something that's surprised me is the confidence you gain after overcoming these knowledge deficits. The more "mini" challenges you overcome the more confident and assured you are the next time one comes around! I guess the biggest lesson I've learned is to never underestimate yourself??!?!?!?!😂
This video was so relevant I've saved it and plan to watch it when I hit my 3rd year, 5th year, 7th year.... 😳😅 (currently heading into 2nd year and fully relating to EVERY word in this). Thanks for saying what we all need to hear outloud!
A lot of this video resonated with me. I'm currently doing my Masters in Medical Physics (did theoretical at UG) after taking a year off, and I ended up getting a dissertation project in instanton calculations applied to quantum tunneling. This is possibly the biggest mistake of my academic carer so far as I feel massively in over my head. I'd almost entirely forgotten everything from UG QM and pure maths, and there were already BIG gaps in my knowledge even at that level. So in that respect, I really feel what you were saying about QFT (decided not to even try and touch that for this project) and playing catch-up while trying to output some tangible progress in the actual work
Hey man, you're almost there! 5th year! I went from an applied mathematics background to QFT renormalization groups and universal categories until eventually settling into the theory dept of a lab I work at now researching thermonuclear plasma physics and HED plasmas. But there are also experimental and theoretical research divisions here devoted to studying the proton structure, which intimidates me! Anyways I think it's really cool you're pursuing that area, especially starting a PhD program without a QFT background and about to graduate! You're very self aware of your experiences I can tell
I gotta say, this is a very helpful vid for someone who is about to start my second year in Grad school. I felt like you were specifically targeting me with that "Finding the chapter in the book which relates to what I'm doing in research". I just wanna say I'm glad you shared this, because people in academia seem incredibly averse to showing their adversity.
I'm starting a PhD in astronomy in a little over a month, so this was really helpful and informative! Thanks so much for everything you do for the physics community, Andrew!
I completed my masters in aerospace engineering at Cornell a few months ago. One thing I learned is that reaching out to your colleagues can speed up your time on homeworks and projects. I would spin my wheels for hours and binge trying to complete a big problem set; when I would hang out with my classmates and meet with the on campus to work on it, not only did it decrease the activation energy needed to start working on it but it also was great getting feedback from someone other than yourself. I’ve been watching your videos off and on over the past few years and you were a youtuber that added more to my interest in grad school :)
Great Video, Andrew! I enjoyed the content and the delivery! Excellent!!! So much value here. Thank you for putting in the time and energy to create this. On top of your researching too! Dude, good luck with it. Lookin forward to seeing what you'll do in the future👏🙏 Also, I think the biggest mistake I made during the pursuit of my MS degree was worrying about the future. I feel like I gave myself a ton of unnecessary anxiety, thinking about deadlines down the road. I don't know if I ever fixed it, lol. If I were to do it again, I would try to take it day-by-day. Planning for the future, but living day-by-day.
Is anyone else impressed by Dotson's ability to literally tell me how he's messed up in an insanely hilarious way. The analogies and jokes baked in and story telling is great. I'm still on the fence about a PhD and not sure if I want to work before it. But this video explaining all the issues I face myself was so encouraging.
Not connecting meaningfully to mentors was my biggest mistake in grad school -- and that was coming from a fear of looking stupid, or being wrong, even as I was at the top of my class in grades and all that. It seems like the "system" trains us to focus on test scores, then you get blindsided by the fact that physics research is actually a social activity. In the end I pulled the ripcord and started a career teaching at the JC level, then about 10 years later I finally realized what went wrong (after mentoring several students through undergrad research projects).
Not only research, but learning physics is also social activity. Being able to pass exams can be done on your own no problem, but to really learn the topics you need to discuss a lot. And in physics, having strong foundations is so important...
Mistakes that I made while learning is trusting only one source of information. When you're learning something in science they tend to make assumptions. Sometimes it's a good thing but mostly they are a bad thing because it can lead to huge mistakes in the future. My solution to that is be cautious about what you're learning and never assume anything. Yes it's harder to not assume a lot of things(include definition of a word) but it'll definitely help you out in the future.
Andrew, I appreciate all of your tips! I certainly agree some of my biggest mistakes in my first few years of PhD were (1) not meeting with my advisor weekly and getting lost in the sauce on my own ventures and (2) moving too quickly to implement a solution to some issue in my stellar evolution code before really testing that it’s doing what I think it’s doing to solve the problem I need. Much time wasted, many hours lost, yet so many lessons learned. (3) I completely agree that you have to set boundaries for how long you are going to spend working on something that is not essential to your result. Cheers!
This is incredibly useful. And you touched on this a bit, but definitely set yourself a time length to be working on a certain problem (whether homework or research) and to take a step back and breathe every so often. It's so easy to get absorbed in your work, but the longer you linger, the worse your efficacy gets, and the more time you can be wasting.
Hey Andrew, I'm going to start my undergrad in physics in a month or two. I started watching your videos about a year ago and I found them really funny but informative at the same time. I want to thank you for teaching me not to make stupid mistakes that I might have made as a first year otherwise. Hope to see more content from you :)
"Treat your learning as a job" I feel that after finishing up my Calc II course this summer. When we reached sequences/series the Prof started us with sequences then threw us into power series without doing any of the other series first lol. I certainly felt that "flipping around random pages" thing.
Relatable experience as a dishwasher. Did it part time during undergrad and it was horrific yet rewarding somehow. Come to think of it thats probably good preparation for grad school.
My main problem has been biting off more than I can chew. I always try to take in more and more responsibilities and then, when I feel like gasping for air, I think to myself "why did I take this extra course/assignment?" I don't know, it feels like if I was just a lot more conscious about my own capabilities and realistic about how much I enjoy certain things, I would be having a better experience in general. I started watching your videos long ago. I don't keep up as much as before and you no longer post as much but it's really nice to see your videos every once in a while. You have inspired me a lot and even though I didn't end up pursuing theoretical physics like you did, it feels nice to have little glimpses of your experience.
Thanks for sharing, and mistakes are definitely part of the process. You'll get there. I always love your videos on mistakes, because though I went through this process as a grad student myself, it has been a long time. A) I've forgotten what mistakes I made since I blocked a lot of that trauma out mentally lol B) I didn't make every kind of mistake (though not through lack of effort haha). And now as a professor, I am aided by your discussions because it helps me see where my students are perhaps falling into similar patterns, so I can help them adjust.
I think of that all the time. there were things my professors would discuss in a very matter-of-fact manner that, in undergrad, I told myself I would remember and expand on it more once I became one. Only thing is now I forget what it was I had a hard time understanding about said topic 😂
I totally get this. I started my first official research experience this summer, and have learnt to be careful when excited. At the beginning, I thought the research's experiments would be much easier to implement in real life. Lo and behold, nothing is that easy.
I just found your channel not long ago. You’re kinda making me wish I’d studied physics beyond my Conceptual Physics class in high school, instead of going into languages and then technical translation, which deals mainly with physics and chemistry. Maybe someday. You and a couple of other RU-vidrs have at least inspired me to at least brush up on math and eventually learn calculus.
I'm not going down this path, but a lot of these are still relatable. Obviously I'm not the only one to experience these lessons, but it's good to hear someone else say it and hear it verbalized
Thank you Andrew for everything! I've been watching your physics videos since I was 16 and it has always inspired me to study physics for myself! Because of my aptitude for learning math, science, and computers, I was able to qualify for the Cyber field in the Marine Corps and I'm being shipped off to boot camp tomorrow to become a Marine! I hope to continue studying math and physics alongside my cyber training and military career. I hope to one day get a doctorate in theoretical physics like you! Once again, thank you for everything :)
Hey Andrew, it's always nice to see you being so transparent and simple. I have been watching your videos ever since you started actually. It has been a journey for you and I am going to start my undergrad in physics in about one month. I thank you for teaching us all that you taught. (**ps- I emailed you recently about a doubt, it would be really helpful if you could reply when you get time**)
I appreciate this video. I'm about to start grad school in Math, and I know I still have some bad habits, along with good ones, as well as putting too much on my plate. Good thing I'm only taking graduate versions of Real Analysis 1, Abstract Algebra 1, and Topology 1, so I'm somewhat familiar of those subjects, along with only having to do tutoring every day.
Ill be starting university in around 3 months, and am really excited (still dont know if i should do regular physics or physics with a focus on meteorology) so i hope ill make it to the phd such as you! (ill have to actually learn for once i think, so i really hope ill actually be able to properly learn)
That first point really resonates with me, given that my background is in pure mathematics (in fact I intentionally avoided anything related to physics during that whole period) but I’m now working on a theoretical physics PhD. I have huge gaps in my knowledge of physics, making it terribly difficult to make much progress in anything. That’s why I decided to devote a ridiculous amount to filling in those gaps and let the research take a back seat for a while (still working on it, just not focused on it). Unfortunately my advisor has the opposite philosophy as you and has explicitly said that spending time working on such things is a waste of time.
This is honestly a great video. In my particle physics class we were supposed to work in groups and go to office hours. I did neither. Still got an A, but I could have saved hours just by asking for help
Making mistakes is absolutely vital. It means you're actually pushing yourself hard enough to do the best you can, and opening yourself up to opportunities to learn. The master has failed more times than the novice has tried. Your intentions are ultimately what matter as it's the only thing you can control.
